[drivingpairs] Painted Hills
- From: "Jim & Dorothy Walter" <svrminis@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "driving pairs List" <drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,"Carriage Driving List" <CD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 08:58:54 -0700
Paint the hills, decorate the town, throw in a live bear and lots of deer,
bring in kids from miles around, and invite a hitch of mini horses.
Karaoke, street dance on Saturday night, marathon run and walk, displays of
local artisans. Put it all together, and you have the Painted Hills
Festival in Mitchell, Oregon (you can find that on the map, but locating it
is not for the faint of heart). Find Highway 20, cutting Oregon in half,
move out 50 miles east of Prineville, and you are in the heart of some of
the most striking scenery in the country, and in the middle of rich fossil
deposits (SVR driver excluded).
Mitchell is a small central Oregon town with very rich traditions of the old
west, to include gold mines, the old Dalles Military road used to transport
supplies into and gold out of the larger John Day gold fields to the east.
The gold is gone, but not the beauty of the Painted Hills. Every minute of
the day brings a different perspective of the hills and canyons painted in
layers of reds, greens, blues, grays, and all shades between. This country
has a violent geologic past, with basalt flows hundreds of feet thick,
volcanic ash flows, pyroclastic formations, the bottom of an ancient ocean,
and now gives up the fossils of a wide array of ancient creatures (once
again, SVR driver excluded).
Sunset Valley Ranch was honored to be invited again to provide mini horse
hitch and wagon to give rides to all the youngsters (and a few not so young)
in town. Saturday, August 30, found us with the 4 up hitch and wagon, and
one lead line horse in the annual downtown parade, then a half mile back up
the highway to the start (passed two pickups, a couple ATV's, and one guy
pulling a kid's wagon). Then a quick lunch, pull the leaders off of the
hitch, and get down to some serious kid hauling. Saturday afternoon was a
blur of kids offloading one side, onloading the other side, grab a quick
drink, change pairs almost on the go when the wheelers got heated up, driver
and header swap places, stop for a picture, drive around the karaoke show,
turn around by the wooden bear, and drive by Henry the live black bear.
(Henry didn't scare 'em, but those bright red gas pumps were out to get us).
A few moms and dads went along with the little ones, and we were honored to
chauffeur one very spry ninety one year old lady around the square. Lots of
laughs, and the smiles on young and old were priceless. So quickly the
afternoon was over, and it was time to retire the hitch horses to their
hilltop retreat for a good roll in the dirt and dinner before the blood red
sun (huge fire off to the west) went down. Horses taken care of, teamsters
Jim and Dorothy Walter took time for leisurely dinner (great shrimp and ribs
on the barby), visit with friends, and boogie down for the street dance with
live music from The Fairlanes (these ladies bill themselves as full bodied
girls singing and dancing great stuff from the 50's and some great country,
and they are really great), and then the dance with Brian Hanson. We were
wiped out by 10:30, and retired to the hotel for a soak in the tub and fall
into bed, where we were still treated to the music just outside our window.
Sunday morning was more relaxed, with a walk around town, church in the
park, great potluck, and a couple hours of wagon rides and some promised
driving lessons (great smiles from the mayor as he picked up the reins and
drove the team downtown).
Too soon, it was time to pack up the hitch and wagon, and make our way north
to Washington, driving back through more of the gorgeous gorges, striking
hills, and across the oasis of the John Day River valley.
Thank you, Mitchell, for sharing your children and your Painted Hills
Festival with us.
Jim & Dorothy Walter
Sunset Valley Ranch Miniature Horses
_________________________________________________________
To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to:
http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Other related posts:
- » [drivingpairs] Painted Hills
